Vehicle body for transoporting mixed concrete



Jy 25, 1933. A, E. MILLER 1,920,149

VEHICLE BODY FOR TRANSPORTING MIXED CONCRETE Filed April 20, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet l [N VEN TOR.

ATTORNEYJ' 33. A. E. MILLER 1,920,149

VEHICLE BODY FOR TRANSPORTING MIXED CONCRETE July 25, a:

Filed April 20, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

A TTORNEYJ Patented July 25, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ARTHUR E. MILLERQQF MILWA K E, WISCONSIN, Assrenoa '10 AIN BELT com- PANY, or. MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin, A CORPORATION OF, WISCONSIN VEHICLE BODY roarnnnsronrme MIXED concaurn Application filed April 20,

This invention relates to vehicle bodies for transporting mixed concrete and the like and has for one of its objects to provicle a body of this character which will be simple 111- CO11StILlCt1OI1, comparatively inexpensive to manufacture and more efficient in use than those whlch have been heretofore proposed.

. There is a well developed tendency in the concrete art at the present time toward the mixing of the concrete at a central plant from which it is transported by motor trucks or other similar vehicles to the point of use. It has been found, however, in actual practice that where so called wet mixes are used, (that is, where the concrete contains a relatively large'amount of water in proportion to the aggregates so that the mixture is rather thin,) the said aggregates have a tendency to settle during transportation,

leaving the water and cement floating upon the top.- It is therefore desirable before dumping the concreteat thepoint of use, to remix the ingredients; and various types of apparatus have been proposed whereby such remixing may be accomplished just prior to the dumping, or whereby the concrete is more or less continuously agitated during transportation to prevent the segregation of the materials.

The present invention has for its primary object the provision of a special typev of vehicle body which will facilitate the remixing of concrete materials which have separated, as above described, just prior to transported with the center of gravity of the body .and contents elevated above the lowest position which it may ever assume, and upon reaching the point of use by releasing a simple holding means the body and contents may be automatically rotated 1929. Serial No. 356,771.

particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification in which like reference characters designate like parts in all the views Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a motor vehicle provided with one form of a body constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2 is a. transverse sectional View taken approximately on the plane indicated by the line 2+2 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary perspective View showing the means of locking the rotating body intransporting position; and

Figure 1 is arview similar to Fig. 2 showing a slightly modified form of body.

In the said drawings 10 indicates generally a motor vehicle having a chassis frame 11 upon which is pivotally mounted as at 12, a body supporting frame 13. Any suitable means such as the power operated hoist 14 maybe provided for tilting the frame 13 about the pivot 12 to dump the contents of A the vehicle body.- 1

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the body constituting the presentinvention comprises a closed elongated metal or other shell 15 whichis surrounded by a pair of rings or tracks 16 which rest upon supporting rollers 17 carried by. the tilting frame 13.

. As shown in the said figures the body is not truly cylindrical, the lower portion thereof as viewed in Fig. 2 being deformed as at 18 whereby the center of gravity of the body will be shifted out of the axis of rotation designated by the numeral 19'. For illustrative purposes it has beenassumed that the center of gravity has been raisedin Fig. 2 to the point indicated by the numeral cross sectional shape may be employed which will produce such a construction.

' It is obvious that those skilled in the art discharge.

The said body may be provided with a filling opening or hatch 21 which is normally closed by a hatch cover 22 such opening being preferably located in the arcuate side wall of the body, and a discharge opening or'hatch 23 is also provided in the end wall leading to a discharge chute 24 which is normally closed by a cover plate 25. As will be clear from .the drawings, these hatches are displaced from the axis of rotation of the body in substantially the. plane of the displacement of the center of gravity.

For holding the body in the transporting position (which is that shown in Figs. 1 and 2 with the center of gravity 20 elevated) any suitable mechanism may be provided, such for example as illustrated in detail in Fig. 3. This latch as hereshown comprises a bracket 26? having a notch or recess 27 which is adapted to receive the'toe 28 of a lever 29 which is pivoted as at 30 in a suitable bearing 31. A spring 32 may be provided to normally hold the lever in the position shown in the drawings.

In use the body will be positioned as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 by either power or manual operation of the chain 33 which en gages a sprocket 34 carried by the bodylo whereupon the hatch cover 22 will be opened and the body filled with mixed concrete. The hatch cover 22 is then closed, after which the vehicle is drivenfrom the central mixing plant to the point of use during which time the larger aggregates may settle to the bottom of the body; Upon arriving at the point of use the operator will raise the lever 29 thereby withdrawing its toe 28 from the recess 27 of'the bracket26 whereupon, the tendency ofthe center of gravity 20 to seek its lowest position will result in an automatic movement of thebody through an arc o'f'substantially 180 thereby bringing the heavier aggregates to the to and providing a remixing of the concrete efore The cover 25 01: the discharge chute is then opened and the body tilted by means of the hoist let thereby discharging the contents. Y

The body may obviously take various cross sectional shapes, as for example, that shown in Fig. 2 wherein the distorted portion is corrugated, orthat shown in Fig. 4 wherein the lower walls are substantially straight as indicated at 38. IVhile the particular shape of the body may have some 'eiiect upon the remixing action it is not wished to be, limited to anyparticular shape since the primary principle involved is that of aclosed body in which the center of gravity lies without the axis of rotation and any may vary the details of'construction as well as the precise arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit of the invention and therefore it is not wished to be limited to the above disclosure except as may be required by the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a vehicle for transporting mixed concrete and the like, a chassis; and an unbalanced load receiving body rotatably mounted on said chassis, having a hatch displaced from the axis of rotation in substan tially the plane of displacement of the center'of gravity ofthe body.

2. In a mobile vehicle for transporting mixed concrete and like mixtures embodying segregatable constituents of difierent specific gravities, a chassis;'a closed receptacle for receiving. said "mixture freely rotatably mounted on said chassis with its center of gravity displaced fromits axis of rotation; and means for releasably holding said receptacle during transport with the combined center of gravity of the receptacle and con tents when substantially completely filled above the axis of rotation, whereby, upon release of said holding means prior to discharge, said receptacle and contents may be automatically'inverted through the action of gravity to produce a redistribution of the heavier settled constituents of the mixture throu hout the lighter constituents thereof.

3. fn a mobile vehicle for transporting mixed concrete and like mixtures embodying segregatable constituents of difierent specific gravities, a chassis; a closed unbalanced receptacle having circular trackways freely rotatably mounting it on said chassis with its center of gravity displaced from its axis of rotation; and a latch for releasably holding said receptacle during transport with the combined center of gravity of the receptacle and its contents when substantially completely filled above the axis of rotation, whereby, upon release of said latch prior to discharge, said receptacle and contents may automatically invert themselves through the action ofgravity to produce a remixing of the constituents of the mixture.

4.-In a mobile vehicle for transporting m'ixedconcrete and like mixtures embodying segregatable"constituents of different specific gravities, a 'chassis;a closed elongated receptacle of irregular substantially semi-circular cross" section rotatably. pendulously mounted on said chassis; and a latch for releasably holding said receptacle and its contents during transport with the heavier portion elevated, whereby, upon release of said latch prior to discharge said receptacle and contents will be automatically inverted through the action of gravity to produce remixing of the constituents of the mixture. p

5.111 a mobile vehicle for transporting mixed concrete and like mixtures embodying segregatable constituents of different specific gravities, a chassis; a closed elongated receptacle of irregular substantially semi-circular cross section rotatably pendulously mounted on said chassis, one wall of said receptacle being formed to assist in a re-lnixing action;

and a latch for releasably holding said: re-. ceptacle and its contents during transport with the heavier portion elevated, whereby upon release of said latch prior to discharge said receptacle and contents will be automatically inverted through the action of gravity to produce re-mixing of the constituents of the mixture.

ARTHUR E. MILLER. 

